Murder victim ‘beaten to death’
THE BODY OF A MAN, discovered year. Det Supt Jones said Mr Britton two days ago when police were may have known his attacker. called to a house in south London, ‘There was no sign of forced entry,’ has been identified as that of Martin he added. Britton, a 71-yr-old retired civil ser-The Superintendent refused to vant who worked for the Ministry of confirm whether this murder is Defence. Friends and neighbours being linked to the death of Harry said Mr Britton hadn’t been seen for Peel, a 57-yr-old taxi driver who several days. The decision to enter died from extensive head injuries the house was taken after police two weeks ago. Mr Peel lived less used a ladder to check the bedroom than two miles from Greenham windows. Road and was found in his bedroom
A post-mortem examination car-by his estranged wife after she ried out yesterday revealed that became concerned that he wasn’t Martin Britton died from head injur-answering his mobile. ies. ‘He was beaten to death in a The police have enlisted the help violent attack,’ said Det Supt Brian of the gay community in the search Jones, who is leading the inquiry. for Harry Peel’s killer. A one-time ‘We believe it happened on Satur-soldier in an armoured regiment, he day, 23 September, and we are ask-worked for several years in the ing for anyone who was in docks before becoming a cab driver Greenham Road on that date to seven years ago. He was a regular come forward.’ visitor to the bars and clubs in his
Neighbours describe Martin Brit-area. ton as a ‘charming and courteous’ Searches by scenes of crime offiman who became ‘something of a cers are continuing at the Greenham recluse’ after his partner died last Road house.
Eight weeks later
THE CONVOY OF armoured trucks, led by a Scimitar reconnaissance vehicle, had been visible for some time to the four Iraqis who crouched in what remained of the upper storey of an abandoned roadside building. The road – part of the highway that linked Basra to Baghdad – cut a straight path across the flat desert landscape, and the group’s elevated position and long-range binoculars had allowed them to track the convoy from the moment the lead vehicle breasted the distant horizon.
The heat was intense. Shimmering mirages produced
The cameraman expected to see complacency, even arrogance, on the faces of the coalition oppressors, but the close-up footage of the three men showed only concentration. There was even a suggestion, in the way the commander, a twenty-six-year-old lieutenant, suddenly shouted an order, that he had spotted something amiss in the dust beside the highway. It was too late.
The roadside bombs, a collection of anti-tank mines rigged to produce a blast that was powerful enough to rip the guts out of a Bradley tank, detonated simultaneously as the vehicle passed between them.
The film clip of a British Scimitar rising into the air before turning over in flames received considerable airtime across the Muslim world. In the Iraq bazaars, it became a ‘must-have’ DVD for anyone whose electricity supply was intermittent or whose satellite dish had been pushed out of alignment by coalition bombing. The propaganda coup of a small Iraqi cell taking out a coalition vehicle with home-made bombs was irresistible, particularly as viewers and experts alike claimed to see fear, not concentration, on the faces of the three Western soldiers. It was taken as an indication that morale in the coalition forces was crumbling and that an end to the occupation was near.
With a different set of ethics governing the coverage of war in Britain, news editors decided against screening the close-up footage for fear of generating complaints about insensitivity. Only one of the men had survived, albeit with disfiguring injuries, and in such circumstances even the most hardened broadcasters felt the line between reportage and exploitation was here too thin to be tested.
MINISTRY OF DEFENCE
BRITISH FORCES SURGICAL HOSPITAL, IRAQ
Confidential report Subject: Lt Charles Acland 893406
Regiment: Light Dragoon Guards
